Program (registration will open at 8h30 and last session will finish at 17h)

In this workshop we'll focus on the 'softer' side of scrum - we'll discuss the self-organising team, the role of servant-leadership in the ScrumMasters role, and how the culture of the organisation can influence how a ScrumMaster might approach their role.We'll start with a short presentation of some key concepts in this area, and then identify concrete situations a ScrumMaster might face in their day to day work. We'll form small discussion groups to come up with ideas of how to handles those challenges and then share and discuss them with the wider group. The objective here is to get people learning from each other in a highly interactive, energetic and fun environment.

User stories are simple, brief descriptions of functionality told from the perspective of a user. In this combined presentation/workshop we will cover how to write effective user stories including their acceptance criteria. The formal events and informal communications involving roles such as testers are a key opportunity for defect prevention and for various roles such as testers to add more value in agile teams. Key points covered will include:

In my last job, we transitioned from Waterfall to a hybrid version of Agile. It took all of us a while to get out of the Waterfall mindset of ‘them and us’.

I worked in the team that was the first to deliver new functionality using the new approach.

My challenge was to get developers and testers working together and break down the barriers that had built up.

My talk is on how I used different techniques and the output from them to start a conversation with developers: from the models I built using Mindmap to help focus the developers unit testing, to the test charters used in the exploratory testing of the delivered functionality.

This also had an effect on other teams and also when working on other areas: we employed a collaborative approach to resolving defect by adding ‘acceptance criteria’ to them to reduce re-opened defects.

Shift left and shift right: the testing swing (Laurent Py - Hiptest)

Speed and the ability to deliver software faster has become key for competitiveness. And the most challenging transformation issue in organizations deploying several times a day new software in production is the need to revolutionize testing. To overcome this challenge, at Hiptest, we have embraced the “shift-left” approach where testing starts earlier in the process. All the project stakeholders have a shared understanding of what a successful implementation means: acceptance tests become part of the definition of done and drive efficiently the development. And among the key success factors at delivering a working software at the speed and scale of DevOps, we would pick: Adoption the Acceptance Testing Driven Development principles, Refactor tests continuously, Testing as part of the Continuous Integration process.But building quality in from the very beginning is not enough. Getting feedback from real users in production is as important in the testing process. This is the shift right. The tester is an explorer that should help in requirement elicitation phase: this one side of the coin. The tester should also learn and explore the way users use the product. And they might be surprises…During this presentation, I will make a demo of a typical use case with: Design of acceptance tests based on a Domain Specific Language, Integration into the Continuous Integration process and Test refactoring techniques.

At Globoforce we have been using Scrum in a distributed team environment for the last five years. We have experienced huge benefits in the implementation of Scrum, with increased productivity and quality, helping us to produce innovative products and services that our customers really value.

In our presentation we share our story of how we implemented Scrum in a distributed team environment with team members based in Dublin, US and Belarus and how we have made incremental improvements over these years to make it a success.

Individuals working alone can only achieve so much, great work is accomplished by great teams. In this presentation JP will describe the key characteristics of successful teams and the types of individuals that you want on your team.

A team of 40 people are involved in he development and support of Prudential's company intranet. Its built on IBM technology and hosts 30 separate intranet sites with new sites being added regularly. Eamonn will talk through why we decided to transition the team from waterfall to scrum, how we restructured the team and the role of DevOps. Eamonn will also outline what helped and what hindered the transition. Finally Eamonn will outline the costs and some of the benefits to date.

Adopting Devops practices can be bottom up or top down or some combination of both. However unless there is some buy in from management and alignment with the strategic goals of the business, the development and operations team will continue to work in a disjointed fashion. This session describes a number of strategies and approaches to implementing DevOps practices aligned to your business goals.

Before joining the company I currently working, here is the question I had to ask myself. I read a lot of various articles ... all with different opinions, of course, and I finally dare to take the step to try and make my own opinion!
Today, few months after my integration, I'll share with you my feedback and more important the point of view of whole team.

Whether the Customer, Product Owner of this project or my manager who is project director within Ysance and a fervent adept of the V-cycle method all give us their views and vision on this project and more generally what the agile method has brought them.

The Hewlett Packard Technology Services R&D team build automation and remote support software for Datacenter managers striving to implement the 'new style of business'. By tapping into the knowledge of millions of devices and thousands of experts the solution set offers a personalized, proactive and simplified experience to managing IT infrastructures that drive business strategies forward.

The Technology Services (TS) R&D function is a large 500 person globally distributed software R&D function. This 'warts and all' presentation will walk the audience through it's journey from waterfall to scaled agile development. TS R&D's implementation of Leffingwell's Scaled Agile Framework at the portfolio, program and scrum team level will be covered. The presentation will illustrate the organization's use of software productivity and automation tools. Finally, the organization's on demand delivery vision and work in progress migration to DevOps will be outlined.

One of the key characteristics of Agile development is a shift in focus from processes and tools to a focus on individuals and interactions. When transitioning from traditional methods to less process-driven, agile ones, organizations must spend time to build a culture of trust and respect among its employees to facilitate the collaborative working environment necessary to make agile adoption successful. In this presentation, Philip draws on his experience of undergoing the transition to agile methods in two software product companies to outline lessons learned and things to watch for when thinking of adopting an agile approach.

S3 TV Technology operates within an industry that’s currently going through a transformation; DevOps is all the rage with an increasing demand for a faster rollout of features and capabilities. Two years ago, S3 introduced a new product development team using an scrum. Six months ago, it tried to apply this its longest running product development team. In this presentation, you’ll get an honest ‘warts and all’ assessment of what worked, what didn’t and the challenges that both teams faced along the way.

In a large organization, sustaining an Agile transformation can be a difficult task. After a successful launch, the pressure of deliverables can cause a team to lose momentum and revert to unhealthy practices. Communities of practice offer a scalable approach to enable continued best practices.

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Founded in 2009, AgileInnovation focuses on the application of agile and lean software development methods in high innovation environments. As companies strive to develop new capabilities, products and markets, traditional business priorities of efficiency and quality must be augmented with the ability to ‘out-learn the competition’ and embrace emerging opportunities and change. By combining principles of lean product development with agile methods, AgileInnovation develops and supports enterprise teams operating in diverse, complex real-world environments through organizational assessments, consulting, training and coaching. Over the last six years we have worked with over 40 companies and semi-state bodies to bring them the huge benefits agile offers. Clients include global corporations such as Intel, Prudential, Symantec; mid-sized firms such as Pilz, Openjaw, HMH; and small start-ups like SoftCo, Akari and CoreHR.

For details of our training and service offerings such as ScrumMaster, Kanban and Scaling Agile, please visit our website www.agileinnovation.ie.

Inspire Quality Services is the new name for Insight Consulting Ltd. originally founded in 1996 by Fran O'Hara. We provide services in areas related to

Agile – particularly Scrum. Through a combination of executive awareness building, agile assessments, training and coaching we help organisations transition to a more agile way of working. We generally 'partner' with organisations to deliver on a successful transformation in support of measurable business goals.

Software quality/test - ISTQB

Software and Test Process Improvement – CMMI®, TMMi®, TPI®

We work in a wide range of sectors both in Ireland and overseas. Sectors include ICT, Banking, Insurance and Financial Services, Publishing, Utilities, Transport, Government and Lifesciences.